


Parley - Jenny's Game

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1283]
Category: NCIS, Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 23:04:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19238911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Charlie needs to tell Amita about Ian. Heck he needs to tell his family about Ian. The only problem? A couple of NCIS agents show up looking for Ian and turn his life upside down for him. Ever since Gibbs returned from Mexico tensions have been tight on the team as both Tony and him try to lead it. Jenny only has one solution. Unfortunately, she takes it too far.





	Parley - Jenny's Game

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 11/04/2002 for the word [parley](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/11/04/parley).
> 
> parley[ pahr-lee ]  
> noun, plural par·leys.  
> a discussion or conference.  
> an informal conference between enemies under a truce, especially to discuss terms, conditions of surrender, etc.  
> verb (used without object), par·leyed, par·ley·ing.  
> to hold an informal conference with an enemy under a truce, as between active hostilities.  
> to speak, talk, or confer.
> 
> This is for prompt #1 of the December 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/159796.html).
> 
> So I recently discovered Charlie/Ian Numb3rs pairing due to the EFRB I'm participating in and ever since then I've been itching to write in that fandom. Somehow that itch turned into this crazy story. I apologize in advance for any OOCness.

Charlie didn't know what to think. Amita had gotten an offer from Harvard. It shouldn't have bothered him.

They weren't actually dating. In fact, he'd been dating Ian for a couple of years now. He'd been planning on telling Amita about Ian sooner rather than later as she'd been getting a tad aggressive.

Now, he might not have to. He didn't know what to think about that. Everyone thought he was broken up over Amita, but the truth was he'd been talking with Ian about coming out to his family.

Of course, when she took the CalSci professorship it made everything awkward again. He tried to tell Don about Ian, but it didn't come out right and he chickened out. Ian was in town.

They were trying to find Crystal Hoyle before she killed again. Telling Don and his dad about Ian while he was there was just asking for trouble. Charlie knew what they were like.

They needed time to get used to the idea of him and Ian together before Ian was actually in arm's length of them. Of course his plans were thrown for a loop when a gruff older gentleman showed up at his place looking for Ian. Charlie was immediately suspicious about what was happening here and refused to provide any information as to Ian's whereabouts without confirming this Gibbs guy's identity.

He was sure they were already tracing Ian's normal cell phone. The man supposedly belonged to NCIS. Charlie wasn't sure he believed that, but he already had a phone call in to his brother to confirm it.

He was just glad that his father had moved into a place of his own and wasn’t around to see this. He knew there was no way that Alan would just let something like this go. Heck, Don wouldn’t let it go either.

They were both so protective of him, it drove him batty. Neither one of them were shirks in the observation department either and someone demanding to know where Ian was would be like a red flag waved in front of a couple of bulls. It wouldn’t take long for them to figure out he and Ian were dating once they had that information.

Charlie hoped that he could avoid them ever finding out about this confrontation with Gibbs. He’d simply sent Don a text that a guy named Gibbs was poking around CalSci claiming to be from NCIS and wondering if his brother could confirm that Gibbs was actually an NCIS agent. He had hoped that would be innocuous enough to not arouse Don’s suspicions.

Of course, he should have known better. He’d ditched Gibbs, or at least he thought he had and had headed for CalSci. He still had courses to teach today, after all.

Even if this Gibbs guy was an NCIS agent, it was still suspicious for him to be looking for Ian. Ian wasn’t a Marine or Navy and NCIS had no jurisdiction over the FBI. Charlie knew that he would have to tread carefully in regards to this whole issue. 

He’d already sent an oblique warning to Ian that hopefully would keep Ian out of whatever this was, but Charlie knew that if he was actually in danger from NCIS that Ian wouldn’t stay away. He was just as protective as his brother and father, but Ian at least knew how to keep Charlie safe without making Charlie feel like he was a delicate flower incapable of taking care of himself.

Charlie should have expected Don to show up at CalSci demanding to meet this Gibbs person and to make sure Charlie was ok. The fact that he didn’t just showed Charlie how off his game he was due to this situation. He didn’t even know what situation this was.

He could do a lot with numbers, but they were useless when he didn’t have information to start collating them. To make matters even worse, NCIS Agent Anthony DiNozzo also showed up demanding to see Ian. Unlike Gibbs, though, he accosted Charlie at CalSci, right in front of Don.

Charlie wanted to bang his head against the wall, but he refrained as that would only make his brother more suspicious. Don had his own ideas as to what was going on and they weren’t adding up to anything good, especially given the number of people with video cameras that appeared to be surreptitiously following Charlie. He’d already ordered FBI protection for his brother while they tried to figure out what was really going on.

For that matter how did Ian factor into it and why did everyone think Charlie would know where Ian was? Don’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his brother, a suspicion forming. It couldn’t be, could it?

Charlie was even more worried about Ian, now. To have two NCIS agents looking for him, clearly didn’t bode well for Ian even though there should be no reason for NCIS to be interested in Ian, at all. Of course, it also spoke to the dysfunction of NCIS which gave Charlie hope that whatever was wrong could be resolved before either NCIS agent found Ian. 

Ian hadn’t said anything to Charlie since he sent the warning text, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. Charlie was sure Ian was protecting himself, and possibly Charlie, and wouldn’t reach out to Charlie until he was someplace safe. In fact, the most annoying part was having an FBI agent with him at all times. 

It made teaching more difficult as the students got distracted by the agent and it made getting time alone to look into NCIS or Ian or anything related to this case even more difficult. Not that Charlie really had much he could dig into without reaching out to the NSA for a favor, which he really didn’t want to do, but still he wanted to know what was going on. 

Charlie tried to focus on the math, on the numbers, but for once the numbers weren’t coming to him. When he wasn’t teaching, he stayed at the house stubbornly refusing to talk to anyone about it. If he didn’t have the numbers, what use was he to Don or anyone?

Meanwhile back at NCIS headquarters a roar could be heard coming from the big monitor the MCRT had in the bullpen. The crowd also erupted as they watched the race being televised live. You see, this was all part of a competition to determine who would lead the MCRT. 

After Gibbs came back from retirement, Jenny hadn’t known how to handle Tony’s promotion to MCRT lead. It had been intended to be temporary, but he had done such a good job that she’d made it permanent. The problem was she couldn’t have two MCRT leads, so she had to figure out who was going to lead the MCRT and then what would happen with the other one.

She’d been racking her brain for ideas on how to handle this peacefully, before war broke out between Gibbs and Tony who clearly had not been getting along as well as they used to when Tony was strictly his SFA, when she stumbled across a brochure/pamphlet about a special course offered in Quantico. The course was led by one Ian Edgerton and had been touted by the FBI as the main reason they were so good at fugitive retrieval.

While fugitive retrieval wasn’t exactly what NCIS did a number of the skills would transfer and as Director she always needed to know what the other federal agencies were up to, to make sure that NCIS didn’t fall too far behind the times. As she read over the brochure detailing how this course was normally taught she realized that this was the perfect solution.

She immediately initiated a parley with the FBI at Quantico to discuss a modified version of this course with only two people, Gibbs and DiNozzo, where the results of the course would determine who became lead of the MCRT. The FBI knowing both Gibbs and DiNozzo well had been intrigued and passed along her request to the instructor, saying that ultimately it was Ian’s decision on whether to do so or not. Ian had seen no reason to refuse the Director’s request and had agreed to start the course in two weeks time. 

He’d wanted to enjoy some downtime with Charlie after the Hoyle case. He hadn’t explained that, however. Neither his superiors nor anyone else knew about Charlie and he wanted to keep it that way.

What Ian didn’t realize though is that the Director had a timeline of her own. So now she’d explained to DiNozzo and Gibbs that they were being enlisted in this course the results of which would determine who would lead the MCRT and their first task was to track down their instructor, Ian Edgerton. She’d then enlisted a bunch of NCIS agents to act as television crewman and follow Gibbs and DiNozzo around, so that she or someone she appointed could watch exactly what was going on and use that data to make an informed decision about who would be the better MCRT lead.

She hadn’t given either agent more than the instructor’s name. They hadn’t needed more than that, both of them being well aware of the sniper course that Ian taught. Of course, word had quickly gotten out once Ziva and McGee had been informed of their supervisors temporary reassignment. 

The bullpen was now filled with off duty agents eagerly watching Gibbs and DiNozzo to see who would win. There were more bets on who would win this race than on Gibbs and DiNozzo getting together which had previously been the most popular bet. Ziva was convinced that Gibbs would win.

After all, Tony was an idiot. There was no way Gibbs wouldn't win. McGee, however, had been torn about who to support.

In the end, he’d bet on both. Though, he’d put more money down on Tony simply because Tony always seemed to come out on top even when he was wrong. He knew the Director had also placed a bet, though no one was saying who she was betting on.

Tony knew the Charlie guy knew more than he was saying. Most wouldn’t suspect Charlie and Ian of being close, but the two of them had been at the same location too many times when Ian wasn’t on a hunt to be coincidence. At the same time, he was pretty sure that Gibbs had scared the guy into warning Ian off. 

Tony knew he needed to take a step back and come at this from a different direction. His charm had had no effect on Charlie, which was surprising, but not the end of the world. Things were getting kind of hot around Charlie given that his brother Don had placed him under FBI protection.

Again, Tony blamed Gibbs for that. The guy was like a bull in a china shop sometimes. There were so many times when the only way to get answers was to use finesse and Gibbs just wasn’t capable of that, at least not anymore.

As Tony thought about it, this whole thing seemed off. Ian was a sniper. He would be watching, but not visible.

However, if he was really their teacher he should have been giving them hints. The fact that he wasn’t made Tony worried about what Director Shepard was up to. He’d known that she was doing something shady with Benoit. 

He’d tried not to worry about it while Gibbs was gone as he frankly hadn’t had the time for whatever she was doing, but now he couldn’t help wondering if this was all a scheme of hers. Recently, it had become rather obvious that she cared more about her personal vendettas than the agency. He’d gone along with this whole thing because Gibbs hadn’t protested, but Gibbs also wasn’t back to normal from the explosion and memory loss.

Positive now that Ian was watching them and trying to determine how much of a threat they were to Charlie and himself, Tony decided that the best tactic was to leave Ian a note. He quickly scribbled down contact information for himself and a brief explanation as to what was going on. He then slid it between the cushion and the back of the diner bench he was sitting at before returning to his motel room.

He only hoped that he had made the right move. He wondered how long it would take someone to find his note. Heck, he wondered what Gibbs was doing and how he was handling this whole thing.

He wanted to spy on Gibbs, but couldn’t bring himself to do so. It just felt wrong given how off Gibbs had been ever since he returned from Mexico. Still if this tactic didn’t give him the results he wanted, he might resort to that.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief when his phone rang about an hour later and showed a blocked number. His tactic had paid off. “DiNozzo.”

“Am I to understand that despite the fact that the course isn’t set to start for another two weeks that your director sicced you and Gibbs on me now?”

Tony coughed, “Ian Edgerton, I assume? I had no idea the course wasn’t supposed to start for another two weeks, so I think that would be accurate.”

“Are you aware that everything you’re doing has been filmed?”

Tony sighed. “Not exactly, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Director Shepard has been behaving quite unorthodox lately.”

“So what exactly were the terms of this so called competition?” Ian growled.

“Simply whoever could find you first.”

“Fine. 0400. CalSci Steam Tunnels. We meet and then you leave and take Gibbs with you.”

“Done. Well except for the taking Gibbs with me, part.”

“Trust me you do not want to be around when I take this to my superiors.”

“Oh, I know. I’ll leave. I just have no intentions of taking Gibbs with me. Mostly because I’m pretty sure he won’t listen to a damn thing I have to say, right now.”

Ian grunted. “Fine. I’ll deal with Gibbs.”

Tony nodded. “Great. See you then and apologize to Charlie for me regarding Gibbs’ behavior and mine too for that matter.”

“You can apologize to him, yourself.” 

Tony saw the call ended and shook his head. Perhaps Ian and Gibbs weren’t that very different. He set his alarm for 0330, so that he would have plenty of time to make it over to CalSci and find the steam tunnels. 

He couldn’t imagine that it would really be this easy, but he hoped. From what he had heard and seen, he was pretty sure that Ian just wanted the two NCIS agents gone, so that he could go back to spending time with Charlie. Of course, Tony could be reading that entire situation wrong, but he didn’t think he was.

It was obvious that the brother had no idea about Charlie and Ian, however. It was 3:58 when Tony entered the steam tunnels under CalSci. He wondered where exactly they would be meeting and blinked in shock when he noticed someone actually sleeping in the tunnels.

He wondered if he should disturb the guy. He seemed pretty tired though, hadn’t even stirred when Tony had entered the room he was in. Of course, he was probably a student or teacher or something and thus wouldn’t have the military reflexes that told you someone was watching you.

Before he could consider anymore about what to do about the guy, Ian Edgerton showed up. Tony quickly snapped a picture of the man for proof to show Director Shepard. 

“Larry,” Ian sighed and shook his head. “No matter how many times we tell him it’s fine for him to stay at the house he insists on sleeping here.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at that statement, “Should we wake him?”

“No. Let’s deal with this first. Is the picture enough proof?”

“Hopefully, but if you give me your phone number, I can call you if Director Shepard needs more proof.”

Ian nodded and pulled out one of the business cards he handed out when hunting fugitives. “That’s it?”

“Yeah. I have no problem with you. My issue is with your Director. I clearly stated classes would start in two weeks. However, since you’re here..” Ian handed Tony a book.

“Read up. It will give you a leg up on the course.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You’re smart. Smarter than the Gibbs’ guy. You deserve to be the team lead.”

Tony blinked. “Thanks.”

“Now, go on, before I change my mind about making trouble for you.”

Tony nodded and headed back out of the steam tunnels as he left, he could hear Ian shouting, “Larry, get up. I’ll never hear the end of it from Charlie if I just leave you sleeping here.”

Tony shook his head. He still didn’t know these people well, but they obviously had some interesting quirks. He paid for a ticket back to DC and quickly boarded the plane. 

He hoped that Ian wouldn’t give Gibbs too hard of a time. Tony wasn’t exactly happy with the man, but he didn’t hate him either. The flight went by relatively quickly as he reviewed the material that Ian had given him. 

By the time the plane landed he thought he had a pretty good grip on what was required for the fugitive course that Ian taught. His mind was still on that when he walked into the bullpen and saw Gibbs on the monitor attempting to threaten Don Eppes. 

Tony shook his head. Gibbs had clearly lost it. Of course, the fact that Ziva and McGee were making no attempts to work and that a number of other agents from the office were obviously interested in the outcome of this filled him with anger at Jenny. 

“Ziva, McGee. You better have a lead on a cold case when I return in the next 30 minutes.” Tony barked. 

McGee sputtered, but Ziva just scoffed, “We don’t work for you.”

“Oh, yes, you do.” Tony snarled. “You won’t like it if I have to prove it to you.”

Ziva just waved her hand. “You do not frighten me.”

“More fool you, then.” Tony turned and stormed up the stairs to the Director’s office. 

He could hear Ziva and Tim whispering behind him about what was going on and murmurs sweeping the other gathered agents. He locked eyes with Balboa and with that simple exchange knew that Balboa would clean it up.

“What is the meaning of this, Jenny?” Tony snarled as he barged into her office.

“Meaning of what?” Jenny looked up in confusion. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be chasing down, Ian Edgerton?”

“Don’t need to. I already found him and don’t think your little scheme isn’t going to come back to bite you. How dare you make fools out of Gibbs and me?”

“What?”

“I saw the setup downstairs. Don’t bother to deny it. The only reason no one caught my meeting with Ian on tape is because we did it while your agents were sleeping. I’m no one’s fool, Jenny,” Tony growled, “ and I don’t appreciate you trying to make me into one.”

“Wait. It’s not what you think. The cameras are only so that there are no questions over who the winner is and thus no repercussions to either of you when the results come out.”

Tony shook his head. “That’s a very pretty story, Jenny, but I’m not buying it.”

Tony nodded to Jenny’s phone, which had started ringing, “I’ll bet that’s SecNav, right now. I’d be very careful about what you say to him. I don’t think he’s going to be happy with you.”

“What did you do?” Jenny snarled.

“Me? Nothing? But Ian Edgerton isn’t a man you want to piss off,” with that word of advice, Tony turned and left. He was quite happy to let SecNav deal with Jenny.

He was glad to see that the MCRT monitor had been turned back to case related stuff and everyone except Ziva were at least appearing to be studiously doing their jobs. Tony settled in behind his desk and pulled up some cold case files himself. He wondered how long it would take Gibbs to return. 

He would give Ziva and McGee another 15 minutes before demanding to know what they’d found on their cold cases. They wouldn’t like the consequences if they’d found nothing. Things were going to change no matter who ended up being the leader of the MCRT.

After all, Tony couldn’t imagine that Jenny would be staying on as Director for very much longer, though that was out of his control. He couldn’t turn a blind eye to what she was doing as Director anymore, however. He didn’t think the agency could afford it.

This entire mess would land in Jenny’s lap. He just hoped that whoever they brought in after her would care about the agency more than their personal life.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has 9 stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least 9 stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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